LETTERS FROM A NEVADA MINER

Four holographic letters written between 1908 and 1913 by hard-rock miner A.M. "Bert" Keefer to his friend Frank M. Duncan in Carson City and Reno, Nevada. The letters informally report on the progress in underground mining operations in Nevada, as well as the social news.

Keefer's first letter, dated November 9, 1908, was written in "Sonoma" and postmarked Sweetwater, Nevada. "I am working in the tunnel for the Judge," he wrote. "I have been in solid quartz for 13 feet, I struck it the second day I worked. It is harder than blazes and some of it looks good." He also wrote about closing his saloon and selling off the equipment.

In 1911, Keefer wrote that he was still working mines in Sweetwater, where he had to dig 185 feet for a vein: "It will take about a week to cross cut the vein, and if it don't show any values, I think it will be off ... it is the best looking vein on the surface I have seen in the country and should carry some values if there is any in the country. But you know, gold is pretty scarce in this country."

On June 15, 1913, Keefer wrote that he was working on the Reno Yerrington Mine, four miles from the town of Yerrington. Due to its remote location, his wife, Della, and child are not with him: "I stay up at the mine and walk down twice a week for mail," he wrote. "I am working in the shaft sinking, it is ninety feet deep and real good hard rock too."

Two of Bert's letters, in 1911 and 1912, include gossipy notes written by Della to Pearl, apparently Frank's daughter, about current events and people. There is also one letter written to Frank by George P. Cortigue from Sweetwater about mining efforts.

The letters are in very good condition and are housed in their original mailing envelopes. They provide an interesting view of the difficult and transient nature of mining life in the early 1900s.